Growing up, one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast was bagels with lox. So when I saw that there was a smoked salmon platter on the breakfast menu at Four Seasons Westlake Village, I got excited. I asked if they had gluten-free bread, and since it was a Four Seasons, of course the answer was, “yes”.
Get ready to hear about how great Onyx is for us gluten-free eaters. We were lucky enough to stay at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village for a night this week. For dinner, we went to the hotel’s Onyx Restaurant. I started with a sake sampler which was interesting in a good way. When I started asking our waitress questions, she amazingly informed me that they could make tempura dishes GF by using potato starch and that they could prepare the fried rice with GF soy sauce! She then brought out a bottle of soy sauce for me to use for the meal.
On her recommendation, I ordered the Red Dragon roll which had spicy tuna and (gluten-free!) shrimp tempura.
I really enjoyed this roll. Prior to being diagnosed, I used to LOVE shrimp tempura, so it was incredibly exciting to have it again! The other roll I got was called the Hawaiian Volcano. It had spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, spicy aioli and pickled red ginger. Even though it had similar ingredients, it had a totally different taste.
I enjoyed it, but I liked the Red Dragon roll better. We also shared a side of the vegetable fried rice because how often can I order fried rice at a restaurant?!
Overall, we had a fantastic time at Onyx. It was so nice to have so many options at a Japanese restaurant. The music, which was surprising (80s rock and pop), somehow enhanced the whole experience.
It was a chilly day here in Santa Barbara so some warm Italian food sounded perfect. We decided to go to Pane e Vino in the Upper Village of Montecito. I started with the soup they had for the day, a hearty vegetable soup. It had lots of chunks of potatoes which made it quite filling. Then I had the Insalata Mista.
This consisted of baby lettuce, tomatoes and leeks with a vinaigrette dressing. It was nice and light. Then, after asking our waiter about gluten-free pasta, and being told they had penne and spaghetti, I ordered the Fusilli con Melanzane e Scamorza with the GF penne.
This pasta had smoked mozzarella, eggplant and a tomato sauce. You could really taste the smokiness in the dish which I liked. I just keep getting excited about all of the options we have here in the Santa Barbara area. This is another great one to add to the list of GF friendly places. I will note that I did have to request the pasta to be made in a fresh pot of water. It sounded like without asking, they make it in a “contaminated” pot so just be sure to make it clear if you are intolerant and not just eating GF by choice!
Two days ago, I had the opportunity to go paragliding with Eagle Paragliding based here in Santa Barbara. I know this has nothing to do with eating gluten-free (other than the fact that I packed a GF sandwich for our lunch break compliments of Whole Foods), but this is definitely an experience worth trying out. Not only did I feel safe and in control the entire time I was airborne, but the sensation of flying was a feeling I won’t soon forget. For video footage of one of my flights, visit my Twitvid.
We decided to go hit some golf balls in Carpinteria today, so we stopped at Nutbelly Pizzeria for some lunch. We got two pizzas to split. The first was the GF cheese pizza with sausage (which is GF), red onions and peppers. The second one we got was the GF cheese pizza with garlic.
I still really like the crust here. It was a little less done this time, so it gave in the middle, especially for the heavier toppings on the first pizza. However, the taste of the crust was really good. I asked our waitress why they don’t do more to advertise the fact that they have a GF crust. Her answer was that they don’t want people that don’t have to eat GF ordering it all the time so that there is enough for those that have to eat GF. I can understand this as they make their own crust there which is time consuming. Additionally, when I asked about them bringing in gluten-free bread for their sandwiches, she explained that they want to have GF bread and GF pasta available, but that they want to do it right and make sure that taste is not compromised. Good answer.
Pasta with black truffles and white truffle oil? Yes please. Tonight we went to Tre Lune and I saw that dish on the specials menu. Was it as good as it sounded? It was pretty fantastic. It wasn’t an overpowering truffle taste, yet it had just enough bite to it.
To celebrate my half-birthday (yes, I count that as something worth celebrating), we decided to try Ahi Sushi on upper State Street. I had my San-J travel soy sauce packets on the table when I started to explain to our waitress what I was allergic to, and she said the magic word, “gluten“. She brought me out their gluten-free soy sauce to use. She then was absolutely fantastic in confirming what I could and could not have. I started with the MaMa Mia roll which consists of yellowtail, salmon, cucumber, avocado, jalapeno, jalapeno masago and garlic.
It typically includes two sauces but to be safe, we omitted them. I then had the Sgt. Pepper Roll which has crab meat (not artificial), cucumber, avocado, mango, albacore, jalapeno and masago.
I also had this roll without the sauces. The last roll I had was a basic yellowtail roll. They were small, compact pieces which I love because they are easy to eat. Overall, we had a really great experience at Ahi Sushi, mainly because of our waitress, Masami.
What is the best way to celebrate the NY Giants Victory? For me, it was to bake one of the vegetable pot pies in my freezer made by Simply Pies. I will be honest… I was really nervous about preparing it correctly. Even though it only had three steps, I tend to screw things up in the kitchen. However, 45 minutes later, I had a delicious pot pie that I happily consumed. I will definitely be buying these again.
For my husband’s birthday, I surprised him with a night glamping at El Capitan Canyon. This place is really worth checking out. They have luxurious tents and cabins as accommodations. Each tent or cabin comes with its own picnic table and firepit. For dinner, we made veggie burgers with the Sunshine GF Veggie Patties, Udi’s hamburger rolls, hummus, onion and tomato. That was the first time I had Udi’s hamburger rolls and I loved them. For dessert we made gluten-free smores over our firepit. We used S’moreables, GF marshmallows, and Vosges’ peanut butter bonbon chocolate. These were so good. In the morning, we had breakfast at the Canyon Market and Kitchen.
I had the huevos rancheros which was quite tasty after a night of “roughing it”. Under those extra corn tortillas were beans with some melted cheese as well as some potatoes that were cooked with onions. Yum.
gluten-free in sb 
